O 4º elemento na fixação do quantum alimentar: o tempo de cuidado para fins dos alimentos

Abstract

This thesis examines care time as a juridical value and as a relevant element in the determination of child support within Family Law, grounded in a Constitutional Civil Law perspective guided by human dignity, substantive equality, and family solidarity. It begins by analyzing time as an existential category, a personality right, and a dimension of temporal self-determination, demonstrating that its unequal appropriation generates material and symbolic vulnerabilities. The study then addresses care as a fundamental legal duty and as an expression of relational responsibility ethics, highlighting empirical evidence of gendered asymmetry in caregiving time and the phenomenon of women’s time poverty. The research engages with the Brazilian Gender-Sensitive Adjudication Protocol, CEDAW, Sustainable Development Goal 5.4, and the international recognition of the human right to care, supporting the duty of legal valuation, Whose decisions must be in accordance with the international treaties and conventions to which Brazil is a signatory. Finally, it proposes overcoming the traditional tripartite formula (need-ability-proportionality) through the incorporation of care time as a fourth structural element — forming a quadripartite model — aimed at promoting shared parental responsibility, distributive justice, and gender equality in judicial decisions.